THE SENATE has ratified the reconciled version of a bill that will establish the Medical Scholarship and Return Service Program for deserving Filipino students.

Senator Joel Villanueva, sponsor and one of the authors of Senate Bill 1520, said that the measure will give priority to applicants from municipalities without government physicians to achieve the goal of assigning at least one doctor for every municipality.

Under the bill, the government will shoulder the tuition and other school fees, allowances and fees for internship, medical board review and licensure examination on the condition that scholars will finish the entire Doctor of Medicine Program within the prescribed time frame and will render a return of service equivalent to the number of years he or she has availed of the scholarship.

“The coronavirus pandemic has only exposed and exacerbated the Achilles’ heel of our healthcare system: the shrinking supply of Filipino medical doctors. Imagine, we only have 3 doctors per 10,000 population, far from the ideal ratio of 10 doctors per 10,000 population,” Villanueva said.

The senator said the country lacks 80,000 physicians to meet the ideal doctor-to-population ratio of 10:10,000.

He expressed hope that the landmark measure will be signed immediately by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Senator Pia Cayetano praised Villanueva for working while mourning the death of his mother and sibling.

“I think it is timely and God-given that he was directed to be at the forefront of this measure because in as much as nothing we do can take the pain of a loss of a loved one, but these kinds of actions in the long run give us not just that sense of self-fulfillment in doing our job, but also in remembering and immortalizing the people we love who also work in the service of this country and the Lord,” Cayetano said.